Sneak Peek at Tracy and Tyler's House

Here is the house from the outside - so cute!

Tracy and Tyler walking into their new house (actually I think that is Tyler L instead of Tyler B - not sure how that happened

 Here is the basement family room

 Tracy's kitchen
 More of Tracy's kitchen

 The hallway from the front door - lots of cupboard space

 Abby, Riley and Jaxon relaxing on the floor.

 Tyler B and Jaxon crashing on my couch!

All, I am sure that when Tracy gets a second she will post more photo's. 

Windows and Contractors

Well, this little project which turned into a really large project has been a challenge.  We started this remodel of the windows on July 30 with the understanding that it would be completed by September 1, 2011. Well, unfortunately the contractor (RWL Siding) missed the deadline by about 1 1/2 months. (Too bad we didn't get the deadline in writing with a penalty clause - we are learning the hard way)  Well, to make a long story short they finally got the windows in (October 8, 2001)  but the yard looks like a cyclone when through it as you can see from the pictures below.  After they dug out the window well for the egress window they didn't want to haul the dirt away so guess where they put it - around the edge of the house - what an ugly mess!.

And then we told them they had to remove the concrete block from the window well because we didn't have adequate drainage so they hooked up their truck to a winch and started to pull not thinking about what damage to the lawn.  See the hole from the tire tracks.

 Here is Dennis outside of the window well and the mess on the lawn.  YUK!

 This is a sample of their work - all of the trim on the outside was already starting to come off (and this is a siding company - this is what they do for a living???)  We made them come back and put extra screws all the way around each of the windows to hold up the trim.

 This is one of the two blocks that they said they had removed - thank goodness for Tyler and his wonderful help in getting them out.  The contractor tried to bury them, instead of remove them as they said they would.
 This is the damage to the tree when they tried to pull the blocks out with their truck.

Oh, well I guess I know what it is like to work with contractors now.  Advise:  be sure to get everything you want done in writing!!!  Do your homework so their are no surprises!!! 

I guess the story should end here, but the carpet was so dirty upstairs so we decided to replace it and then we looked at the walls and they needed new paint so then we started painting and the carpet installers needed everything out of the house before they would lay carpet so we put everything on the lawn - oh my  and then we had to replace the broken drapes and on and on and on - Tanner and Chelsey's house has been in an upheaval since we started this project in July - Sorry guys - hopefully you are now starting to enjoy it.  Well, the windows are done, the carpet has been laid, the windows have drapes and blinds and now Chelsey just needs to find everything we misplaced!  (good luck with that)  Hopefully, we are done for a while and Chelsey and tanner can put their lives back together.  I forgot to take pictures of the inside with all of the blinds, so when I do I will post them.

09-16-11 Harvest Fest 2011

Every year at the Snake River Landing they have vendor booths and activities for the kids to do.  Of course one of the favorites is the straw maze and the train ride.  Lizzie looks ok in the picture below, but she screamed all during the ride.  Luckily, Riley was holding her and trying to calm her down.  I think she was mostly upset because the wind was blowing dirty and dust in her face.  The kids did not get to spend very much time this year on the jumping toys because of the wind.

Ah, our mighty warriors, Blake and Riley got to try on medieval helmets, swords and shields - they are ready for battle!

 

 And if that was not enough movement, they put on helmets again and learned the fine art of Lacrosse - both of them did an exceptional job catching that little ball or whatever it is called.  They were both tired after playing.

 Here is Dennis and Chelsey down by the bayou!

 Tyler and Tyler were deep in discussion.

2011 August 9-14 Annual Camping Trip

Wow, another camping trip has come and gone.  I am ready to go again.  This year we went camping later in the summer I was worried that it would be too hot, but it ended up being a great week to camp.  We had 80 - 85 degree weather which was just perfect.  The first day we set up camp the weather tried to scary us off with a downpour of rain, hail and lightning, but we prevailed.  We would not get rained out!   Of course, as we all know, I can't stop taking pictures, so I have just selected a few of the hundreds that I took to tell the story of our week.  As we started down the road to Park Creek campground just above Sun Valley, a herd of antelope was on the side of the road.  I swear they were standing still just for me and my camera. Ha, Ha!

Here is the first day of camping - we were glad for the pop-up canopies so we didn't have to get wet - it looked like a circus had come into the campground.

 Here is our in-house mechanic - Hunter was trying to put the bicycle rack back on the truck.

We drove up to this old mine that had caved-in and when you got close to the cave you could still feel the cold breeze coming from deep inside the mine.

 This is the view from top of the mountain where the cave was. It was beautiful.

 This was our bicycle hero - Blake can now ride a two-wheeler.  (Perhaps, Dennis should take lessons from Blake)

 Tanner and Chelsey just relaxing and enjoying the good food.

 Madelynn was one of our 3 campers under the age of 3 months.  Travis and Ryann has some friends (Chris, Sierra, Reed, Alyssa, and ??) from Pocatello come up that also had a new baby and 2 other young children.  They were fun to have camping with us.

 Every year we have to do the Fall Creek mile hike.  Here are the kids on the "famous" rock.

 This is all of us at the Falls.  The water was really gushing over the rocks this year - it did not stop the boys from taking the kids down and sitting right underneath the falls.

 Tanner and Chelsey after a nice long hike and a long week of camping (Notice Tanner's beard)

 Travis and Ryann's family - yes that is Madelynn on the front of Ryann.

 I have not idea was Tracy was doing - I was just trying to take a picture of Jaxon.

 And of course, I preached to all the kids about riding their bikes safety, maybe I will have to have the kids preach to Dennis next year.  Yes, indeed he took a tumble over the top of his bicycle and off to Sun Valley to have x-rays and a cast to protect him for the rest of the week.

 Here are the might warriors with their sticks.

 The kids still had a lot of enthusiasm even if it was the last day of camping.

 I think Tracy and Tyler were happy??? Or they knew something that the rest of us did not know.

Oh, these pictures were taken of Dennis, Tanner, Travis and Tyler as they hiked up to Kane Lake.  It was absolutely breathtaking.

 Ryann is still smiling - 4 kids and camping - how did she do it.  She needs to share her secrets.

 Ah - Jaxon - so peaceful.

 And here's Dennis loading the truck for our return to home and running water and a hot shower.  Another great and wonderful camping experience.  Thanks, Family we love you!

The Most Wonderful Birthday

My very special birthday!

Chelsey and Tracy swept me away and told me I was only going to be gone for an hour - but doing what, they did not say.  Well, I had my first pedicure done.  It was wonderful to have someone paint my toes and smooth out my callus heels.  Thanks Chelsey and Tracy - aren't they just beautiful toes!

 Then, I went to work and the guard called and said that I need to pick something up - Dennis had sent this beautiful bouquet of flowers - I was the envy of everyone at work - Thanks honey - I love you!

 And then there was even more surprises - I am generally the one with the camera snapping photo's whenever I can, but someone tricked me this time - they took a photo and I didn't even know about it.  This is the best birthday present that anyone could ever ask for - I love pictures of my grand babies.  I will make copies for anyone that would like them.  (I looked on the disk and there are over 80 photo - they are just beautiful).

Then even more surprises - Dennis asked me if I wanted to go to a movie and dinner and I said let's just go camping overnight.  So we threw in some sleeping bags, a cooler and a tent and off we went to Mesa Falls.

 This is a view from Upper Mesa Falls.  It was such a clear, beautiful day.

 The flowers were all in bloom.

 And of course, this creatures come to pick up the left over food at the campsite across from us.  This crow was huge!

 There was tons of water coming over the falls this year - I tried to capture the rainbow in the falls for little Lizzie to see.